CALIFORNIA STATE POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY, POMONA
ACADEMIC SENATE
GENERAL EDUCATION COMMITTEE
REPORT TO
THE ACADEMIC SENATE
GE-025-023
PHL 453, COGNITIVE SCIENCE
INTERDISCIPLINARY SYNTHESIS COURSE – AREA B4 or C4
General Education Committee
Date: 1/14/04
Steering Committee
Received and Forwarded
Date: 2/4/04
Academic Senate
Date: 2/18/04
First Reading
3/10/04
Second Reading
GE-025-023, PHL 453, COGNITIVE SCIENCE – INTERDISCIPLINARY
SYNTHESIS COURSE – AREA B4 or C4
Background
The College of Letters, Arts, and Social Sciences is proposing PHL 453 Cognitive
Science as an Interdisciplinary General Education course for Area B4 or C4.
Resources
Peter Ross
Discussion
This course was presented to the General Education Committee on March 6, 2003,
originally as a proposed B4/C4/D4 interdisciplinary synthesis course. Due to the
extensive prerequisites that would necessitate, the author has modified the proposal to
B4/C4 only. He has also changed the assessment portion of the ECO (section X) as
suggested by the GE subcommittee reviewing this course. The course provides an
introduction to the mind from the standpoint of the sciences, particularly cognitive
psychology, neuroscience, linguistics, and computer science, and also introduces
philosophical issues about the nature of the mind and the methods used in its study.
Thus it involves a highly interdisciplinary approach that synthesizes several areas from
the sciences and the humanities. The course has a very strong writing component
including several (5-8) short papers, plus a longer term paper in which the student
presents a sustained argument supporting a thesis.
Recommendation
The GE Committee has found this course to be in compliance with the interdisciplinary
synthesis course guidelines for GE sub-areas B4 or C4. There were no comments on
the Academic Programs website. The course was approved by the GE Committee on
January 14, 2004 and is now forwarded to the Academic Senate for consideration.
2
GE-025-023, PHL 453, COGNITIVE SCIENCE – INTERDISCIPLINARY
SYNTHESIS COURSE – AREA B4 or C4
CALIFORNIA STATE POLYTECHNIC
UNIVERSITY, POMONA
3
COURSE TITLE: Cognitive Science
Course Number: PHL 453
Date of Preparation: November 2002
Prepared by: Dr. Peter Ross
I. Catalog Description
PHL 453 Cognitive Science (4)
Interdisciplinary empirical study of the mind. Topics include mental representation, learning, emotion,
perception, and consciousness. 4 lecture/discussion. Prerequisites: Completion of General Education
courses in Area A, two of B1, B2, or B3, and two of C1, C2, or C3, and PSY 210. Meets General
Education requirement for General Education requirement in Areas B or C.
II. Required Background or Experience
Completion of General Education courses in Area A, two of B1, B2, or B3, and two of C1, C2, or C3, and
PSY 210.
III. Expected Outcomes
The course provides an introduction to the study of the mind from the standpoint of the sciences, in
particular cognitive psychology, neuroscience, linguistics, and computer science. Cognitive science also
incorporates philosophy, since the scientific study of the mind introduces philosophical issues-foundational issues about the nature of the mind and the methods used in studying the mind. The
attempt to study the mind through this interdisciplinary approach has focused on topics such as mental
representation, learning, emotion, perception, and consciousness.
Because cognitive science is extremely diverse in the aspects of mentality on which it focuses,
the course will take up only a few topics, for example, mental representation and color perception
(different offerings of the course may take up different sets of topics). Through examining such topics,
the course will present how advances in the study of the mind are made possible through the breaking
down of disciplinary boundaries.
Color perception is an example of a topic. Recent advances have been made in the scientific
understanding of color perception from neuroscience and computational color vision. However,
understanding color perception introduces philosophical issues. For example, many neuroscientists claim
that the recent advances in the scientific understanding of color vision show the falsity of the
commonsense view that color (like shape) is a property of physical objects, and instead indicate that color
is an aspect of our mentality--in particular, a neurophysiological process. However, many computational
color vision theorists claim to the contrary that color is a physical property of physical objects--in
particular, surface reflectance--which is detected by color vision. Furthermore, examination of the
neurophysiologists' claim reveals that it rests on certain philosophical assumptions. Thus, the topic of
color perception demonstrates how philosophical assumptions underlie scientific theory. Nevertheless,
scientific advances in understanding color vision serve to inform and constraint philosophical theory about
color perception. Thus, the approach to color perception offered by cognitive science indicates the
complex interrelation between philosophy and science in undertaking the study of the mind. Also, the
study of color vision through different scientific disciplines (neuroscience and computational color vision)
shows how the methods and theories of different sciences interrelate.
1. Students will become familiar with recent interdisciplinary research on aspects of mentality, such as
mental representation, learning, emotion, or perception.
2. Students will become able to identify philosophical issues which scientists face when studying the
mind.
3. Students will learn how scientific findings inform and constrain philosophical theory about the mind.
GE-025-023, PHL 453, COGNITIVE SCIENCE – INTERDISCIPLINARY
SYNTHESIS COURSE – AREA B4 or C4
IV. Texts and Readings
Core texts/readers (any of which could serve as the primary text/reader for the course):
Clark, Andy, Mindware: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Cognitive
Science (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001)
Cummins, Robert and Denise Cummins, Editors, Minds, Brains, and
Computers (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 1999)
Haugeland, John, Editor, Mind Design II: Philosophy, Psychology, and
Artificial Intelligence (Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, 1997)
Lepore, Ernest and Zenon Pylyshyn, Editors, What is Cognitive Science?
(Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 1999)
Osherson, Daniel N., Senior Editor, An Invitation to Cognitive Science,
(Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, 1995)
Pylyshyn, Zenon, Computation and Cognition: Toward a Foundation for
Cognitive Science (Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, 1984)
Stillings, Neil, et al., Editors, Cognitive Science: An Introduction,
Second Edition, Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, 1995)
Thagard, Paul, Mind: Introduction to Cognitive Science (Cambridge,
Mass.: The MIT Press, 1996)
Thagard, Paul, Editor, Mind Readings: Introductory Selections on
Cognitive Science (Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, 1998)
Von Eckardt, Barbara, What Is Cognitive Science? (Cambridge, Mass.:
The MIT Press, 1993)
Texts/readers in specific disciplines:
Biology:
Farah, Martha J., Visual Agnosia: Disorders of Object Recognition
and What They Tell Us about Normal Vision (Cambridge, Mass.:
The MIT Press, 1990)
4
GE-025-023, PHL 453, COGNITIVE SCIENCE – INTERDISCIPLINARY
SYNTHESIS COURSE – AREA B4 or C4
Farah, Martha J. and Todd E. Feinberg, Editors, Patient-Based
Approaches to Cognitive Neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.:
The MIT Press, 2000)
Gazzaniga, Michael S., et al., Cognitive Neuroscience: The Biology
of the Mind, Second Edition (New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 2002)
Gazzaniga, Michael S., Editor in Chief, The New Cognitive
Neurosciences (Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, 2000)
Hayes, Cecelia and Ludwig Huber, Editors, The Evolution of Cognition
(Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, 2000)
Jeannerod, Marc, The Cognitive Neuroscience of Action (Oxford:
Blackwell Publishing, 1997)
Milner, A. David and Melvyn A. Goodale, The Visual Brain in Action
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1995)
Rugg, Michael D., Editor, Cognitive Neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass:
The MIT Press, 1997)
Philosophy:
Bechtel, William, Philosophy of Mind: An Overview for Cognitive
Science (Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates,
1988)
Bechtel, William and Adele Abrahamsen, Connectionism and the Mind:
Parallel Processing, Dynamics, and Evolution in Networks, Second
Edition (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2001) (Computer Science)
Bechtel, William, et al., Editors, Philosophy and the Neurosciences:
A Reader (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2001)
Block, Ned, Owen Flanagan, Guven Guzeldere, The Nature of Consciousness
(Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, 1997)
Boden, Margaret A., Editor, The Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990) (Computer Science)
Boden, Margaret A., Editor, The Philosophy of Artificial Life,
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996) (Computer Science)
Byrne, Alex, and David Hilbert, Readings on Color, Volume 1: The
Philosophy of Color (Cambridge, Mass: The MIT Press, 1997)
Churchland, Paul M., The Engine of Reason, the Seat of the Soul
(Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press 1996)
Churchland, Paul and T. J. Sejnowski, The Computational Brain
Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, 1992) (Computer Science)
Clapin, Hugh, Editor, The Philosophy of Mental Representation (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2002)
Clark, Andy, Being There: Putting Brain, Body, and World Together
Again (Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, 1997)
Clark, Austen, Sensory Qualities (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1993)
Clark, Austen, A Theory of Sentience (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2000)
Copeland, Jack, Artificial Intelligence: A Philosophical Introduction
(Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 1993) (Computer Science)
Dennett, Daniel C., The Intentional Stance (Cambridge, Mass.: The
MIT Press, 1987)
Dennett, Daniel C., Consciousness Explained (Boston: Little, Brown
and Co., 1991)
Fodor, Jerry, The Modularity of Mind, (Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press,
5
GE-025-023, PHL 453, COGNITIVE SCIENCE – INTERDISCIPLINARY
SYNTHESIS COURSE – AREA B4 or C4
1983)
Fodor, Jerry, The Language of Thought (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard
University Press, 1975)
Franklin, S., Artificial Minds (Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, 1995)
(Computer Science)
Hardin, C. L., Color for Philosophers: Unweaving the Rainbow,
(Indianapolis: Hackett, 1988)
Thompson, Evan, Colour Vision: A Study in Cognitive Science and the
Philosophy of Perception (London: Routledge, 1995)
Behavioral Sciences (Psychology):
Byrne, Alex, and David Hilbert, Readings on Color, Volume 2: The
Science of Color (Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, 1997)
Chomsky, Noam, Aspects of a Theory of Syntax (Cambridge, Mass.:
The MIT Press, 1965)
Damasio, Antonio, Descartes' Error (New York: Putnam, 1994)
Gibson, J. J., The Senses Considered as Perceptual Systems,
(Boston: Houton Mifflin, 1966)
Griffiths, Paul E., What Emotions Really Are (Chicago: University
of Chicago Press, 1997)
Marr, David, Vision: A Computational Investigation into the Human
Representation and Processing of Visual Information, (San
Francisco: W. H. Freeman)
Palmer, Stephen E., Vision Science: Photons to Phenomenology
(Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, 1999)
Pinker, Steven, The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates
Language (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1994)
Pinker, Steven, How the Mind Works (New York: W. W. Norton & Co.
1997)
Wandell, Brian A., Foundations of Vision (Sunderland, Mass.: Sinauer
Associates, 1995)
Wegner, Daniel M., The Illusion of Conscious Will (Cambridge, Mass.:
The MIT Press, 2002)
Weiskrantz, Lawrence, Blindsight: A Case Study and Implications
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986)
V. Minimum Student Materials
Assigned reading materials.
VI. Minimum College Facilities
Overhead projection system, library.
VII. Course Outline
Weeks 1-2, Introduction: Mentality (Jaegwon Kim, Philosophy of
Mind, Ch. 1, and Andy Clark, Mindware, Appendix I)
a. The distinction between mental and nonmental
6
GE-025-023, PHL 453, COGNITIVE SCIENCE – INTERDISCIPLINARY
SYNTHESIS COURSE – AREA B4 or C4
7
b. Distinctions among various aspects of mentality (intentionality, qualitative character, and
consciousness)
Weeks 3-6, Topic one: Mental representation (Andy Clark, Mindware,
Chapters 1-4, supplemented by readings from Jaegwon Kim, Philosophy of Mind, John
Haugeland, Mind Design II)
a. Characterizations of representational states
i. Realism
ii. Eliminativism
iii. Instrumentalism
b. Thinking as computations on representational states
i. The language of thought hypothesis
ii. Connectionism
c. The semantics of representational states
i. Semantic atomism
ii. Semantic holism
Weeks 7-10, Topic two: Color perception (Andy Clark, Mindware, Chapter
5 and Appendix II, supplemented by readings from C. L. Hardin, Color for Philosophers and Alex
Byrne and David Hilbert, Readings on Color, Volume 2: The Science of Color)
a. The neurophysiology of color vision
i. Trichromacy and metamerism
ii. The psychological color space and the opponent process theory
b. Computational color vision and color constancy
c. Current discussion of the science and philosophy of color perception: scientific constraints
and philosophical assumptions
VIII. Instructional Methods
Instructional methods that will be used to help students achieve the course's expected outcomes include
the following:
1. Lecture
2. Discussion of assigned readings
3. Critical writing on concepts, claims, and theories presented in the course
IX. Evaluation of Outcomes
1. A series of 5-8 short papers, assigned every other week or with more frequency, in which students
answer specific questions about particular assigned readings. These short papers allow the instructor to
evaluate students' critical engagement with assigned readings.
2. An 2000 word (about 8 page) term paper, due at the end of the quarter, in which students present a
sustained argument for a thesis. The term paper allows the instructor to evaluate students' understanding
of a problem concerning an aspect of mentality discussed in the course. The paper should include a
discussion of the science relevant to the problem and demonstrate an awareness of philosophical issues
relevant to the problem.
3. Class attendance as well as participation in classroom discussion of assigned readings.
X. Assessment
Assessment with respect to whether the course fulfilled the objectives of an Interdisciplinary GE
Synthesis course will be undertaken through a questionnaire in which students will be asked:
GE-025-023, PHL 453, COGNITIVE SCIENCE – INTERDISCIPLINARY
SYNTHESIS COURSE – AREA B4 or C4
1. Did the course successfully build on and synthesize material from lower division courses you had in
the natural sciences (biology and physical science) and philosophy?
2. To what extent did the course provide you with an understanding of how philosophy and science
interrelate in the study of the mind?
3. To what extent did the course provide you with an understanding of how the different methods and
theories of different sciences interrelate in the study of the mind?
8